Racer X

Interesting comments as ever Iris! I was hoping that Jurica might appear somewhere in the UK this year, but he seems to have set his mind on completing studies in his homeland and riding in Poland? He has always looked a rare talent - and I think it has done him some good not riding under the pressure that some teenagers do both here and in other leagues. As soon as a talented 16 year old starts making some decent scores - be he Swedish, Polish or from the UK - he's suddenly going to be world champ. He'll be 19 this tear I think, and Chris Holder is 20 - neither have had that microscope exposure that goes on with some of the emerging riders in the leagues these days.

Can anyone tell me what happened to Patrick Hougaard in Tarnow's big defeat? I see he only scored 2 but there was a write up on him that my grasp of Polish (= zilch!) can't translate...

Oi! Let's have a bit of clarity here and avoid the rubbish shall we? I seem to recall it was alleged that Reading's previous owners BSI owe him money - I'm unaware of how how that finished, but it certainly wasn't the case with the new management, and doesn't explain pulling out of a Reading meeting in advance and then riding a Grand Prix does it? I don't recall any riders claiming Malcolm Holloway and Mark Legg didn't pay them what they owed. I'm not sure that Matej's 2007 team mates would agree with your assessment of his team ability but then again things may be different from where you view them. I am a Zagar fan and the fact he won't be riding in this country from the start of 08 is a blow to both speedway here (in my opinion - I realise not in some others ) and to the rider himself. I would be willing to wager that Zagar will be the first rider back in the UK when the injuries start - bad rep or not. I hope Matty gets his career back on track next season - surely not even his most ardent fan would claim that he didn't make some serious errors last season, and needs to put these behind him if he is to realise the glorious potential of his natural talent.

Flippin heck the guy is only 16 (or is it 17 now?) - riding to a decent average in both senior leagues in Poland and Sweden. Not really going to be a world beater at that age. The potential must be there - some of his results at 16 in Poland have been phenominal.

I would assume as Jason Doyle had a heat win and Cam Woodward didn't - Doyle would get the 11 event points rather than 10.

....and Kevin agrees! Has to be right then

Just trying to show that Poland is not quite the be all and end some claim it to be my Mongolian chum .... I thought it was at least a decent sort of survey and it surprised me that so many of the riders that Poland and Sweden had in common had lower averages in Sweden. I would say the only undue weighting was insufficient for Sweden whilst Poland and Britain don't look that far apart. In fact of the 13 Polish League riders (in their top 20) who race Britain and Poland (I'll have to admit to taking Chrzanowski out as he hasn't yet got an official average in the UK) then GB wins 7 to 6, in terms of riders gaining a lower average over here.... As I'm sure Kevin will point out its hardly an empirical research but it does at least suggest that no adverse weighting should be given to the UK league compared to Poland - but Sweden? Maybe that should be given a higher weighting....

Taking the top 20 Polish league riders guess how many have their lowest average (hence the strongest league?) in the Polish league?? (For reference and comparability I have taken averages to include bonuses over all leagues) It's just two by my calculations. Jason Crump and Leigh Adams. (And Crump effectively not competing in Sweden makes life a bit easier in that country but not by that much) Of the top twenty Polish League riders - 14 have lower averages in Sweden, thus strongly suggesting the Polish league is (sorry to say it Sube) weaker than its Swedish counterpart. At the very least it suggests that Sweden is probably the strongest doesn't it? There are a significant number of the Polish top 20 who do not ride in GB (Hampel, Gollob, Jagus, Jonsson, Holta, Balinski) which makes comparison with the UK difficult. However of those riders that ride in Poland, Sweden (where applicable) and Britain, 4 had their lowest averages in GB (Nicki Pedersen, Ulamek, Richardson and Miedzinski). This is a higher number than those who had their lowest average in Poland! (Interesting that three of those four riders race for Swindon though!) Food for those thoughts.....

Full result courtesy of http://www.sportowefakty.pl 1. Adrian Rymel (3.3.3.3.3) 15 2. Josef Franc (3.0.3.3.3) 12 3. Sam Simota (2.3.2.2.3) 12 4. Lubos Tomicek (3.2.3.2.1) 11 5. Miroslav Fencl (3.1.2.R.3) 9 6. Hynek Stichauer (1.3.1.3.1) 9 7. Martin Malek (2.2.3.0.2) 9 8. Richard Wolff (M.3.2.2.0) 7 9. Jan Jaros (X.2.1.2.2) 7 10. Matej Kus (2.2.R.1.2) 7 11. Filip Sitera (2.R.R.3.1) 6 12. Mario Jirout (1.1.R.R.2) 4 13. Jakob Hejral (0.0.2.1.0) 3 14. Veroslav Kollert (1.1.0.1.0) 3 15. Anotonin Galliani (0.1.1.1.0) 3 16. Jaroslav Petrek (0.0.1.0.1) 2 17. Karol Prusa (1) 1 Final: Rymel Franc Simota Tomicek Good to see Wolffy still racing! And getting X2 in his first!

Certainly looked like both wheels to me. But like people have said you can't begrudge Greg his win - he has had his fair share of bad luck in GP finals this year - this was good luck! Matej needs a top 9 finish to automatically go into next year's GPs and is fairly comfortable now, my guess is that the last two GPs have ensured he would be nominated next year if he doesn't get a top 9 for any reason. Zagar once again did himself proud and has the look of a potential WC - I think he needs to take the next step up the standings next season, and establish himself both in the EL and GPs - so far his progress has been pretty much text book. I remember a few seasons agao ther were people claiming Crumpie would never be a Champion! Antonio Lindback looked very impressive indeed, if Poole axe him, surely someone will try and pick him up? I can't believe that Lindback would try and stay away from the EL, it wold be a huge error of judgement in my opinion. Interestingly the EL stay aways - Hampel, Gollob and (to a lesser extent) Jonsson always seem to lack that little extra when it matters. Coincidence? Or is ridng the EL with its vast array of circuits and the need for flexible technique essential for a rider to take the GP?

Anyone got the full field? Or a link? Cheers!

Can you not lean on someone when you are in the lead then SCB? Funny, I thought you could......

Punk still has an awful lot of relevance today, and the agression and spirit of the music still inspires many. Although most US bands love their sanitised "punk" (but The Bronx buck that trend somewhat!) - I could do without Good Charlotte, etc There were tons of bands around at the time which still sound good - The Prefects, The Banshees (first two albums) and The Buzzcocks for instance. Glen Matlock was the original bassist of the Pistols (as I'm sure you know keepturningleft) and was the original composer of most of the Pistols bass lines which were later played on the NMTB sessions by Steve Jones. You can hear the original Pistols as they were before NMTB on the "Spunk" bootleg which has just been reissued on Castle / Sanctuary. (The popular view is that this recoding is better than NMTB - this is not a theory I hold!) Clash not punk? Hmmm pretty sure not many people around in the day would agree with that, although when punk fizzled out they quickly distanced themselves from the (fading) scene. There's a few decent DVD documentaries about on the Clash that I'm sure would help form a different opinion about the Clash if anyone thinks they didn't start out as fully fledged punk. There will always be a market for some pompous over elaborate pretentious music, no genre is ever wiped out. But the legacy of punk and "new wave" is that Indie and Alternative music (near enough ignored pre 76) is a strong genre now, with a ton of decent bands all across the world having access to markets that were totally denied them in the days that prog dinosaurs ruled the earth. I would also subscribe to the view that decent music needs the likes of Coldplay to rally against. You need contrast for good music.

Hmmm. I didn't see a blue groove on telly after 7/8 heats. However in the play off meeting where there was blue groove after 7/8 heats the GB side rode considerably better. (There seems to be a lot of personal agendas on these threads and if this passes as honesty these days I give up!) I certainly wouldn't take any criticisms from somebody who uses the example of a rider struggling to pass in the 25th race of the night against someone who was probably the top rider in the event!!! Sheesh. Some people. All this is "honest" too

Eeek well in case of any confusion (I'm stressed as well OK ) it is actually our baby. Well it will be when it eventually comes!!